In the 1897 story of two brothers William Franklin and Allen N. King who cycled from Anderson, Indiana, and Morocco, Michigan, to Fairport, New York, to see their brother George Eugene King and sister Mrs. Charles Featherly, nee Mary King,, mention is made that only 5 or 6 children of Ebenezer King are left out of a total of 11 as of that date. Winfield Scott King of Canby, Oregon, was still alive as well as Mary, Frank, Alien and Gene. The number 11 is repeated in a story about George Eugene King on his 71st birthday as published in the 16 December 1926 issue of the Fairport Herald-Mail. Mention also is made that Ebenezer had 11 brothers and sisters of whom only one of the brothers was still alive. This suggests that Benedict and Mary King had a total of 12 children. Of these, eight are listed in the Probate of his Will. Rose Ellen King who died on June 10, 1822, and is buried in the old cemetery on Gloria Road in East Penfield may have been one of those twelve children.
We found a flat upright rectangular headstone made of marble close to the entrance of the old cemetery on Gloria (formerly Cemetery) Road in East Penfield, New York, with the engraving:
Since this old cemetery was established in 1821 we should expect the King plot to be near the cemetery entrance and Rose Ellen King to be one of the first, if not the first King, to be buried there. I have no census data for Benedict King in 1810. In the 1820 census we find for Benedict King of East Penfield:
M ~ 10, 2; M 10-16, 1; M 26-45, 1; F ~ 10, 1; F 10-16, 1; F 26-45, 1.In the 1830 census we find:
M < 5. 2; M 5-10, 1; M 10-15, 1; M 15-20, 1; M 20-30, 1; M 40-50, 1; F 5-10, 1; F 10-15, 1; F 40-50, 1.Suppose we add 10 to each of the numbers in the 1820 census; we find the following distribution:
M 10-20, 2; M 20-26, 1; M 36-55, 1. F 10-20, 1; F 20-26, 1; F 36-55, 1.Now compare this distribution with the 1830 census; thus for 1830:
M ~ 5, 2; M 5-10, 1; M 10-15, 1; M 15-20, 1; M 20-26, 1; M 40-50, 1; F 5-10, 1; F 10-15, 1; F 40-50, 1.We conclude that both Benedict and his wife Mary were alive in 1830 and not more than 50 years old; the male in the range 20-26 years was Ebenezer; the male in the range 15-20 years probably was George W. and in the range 10-15 years was Ira; the female in the range 20-26 was Anna who had married Alien Hibner by 1&30. As a matter of fact, we know that Anna was born in January 1808, Ebenezer in April 1809, George W. in 1813 or 1814, Ira in July 1817, and Chauncey in 1823. Also in the 1830 census for Alien Hibner both Alien and Anna are listed as between 20 and 30 years old and as having two daughters under 5. Note that in 1830 Benedict and Mary have 9 living children. By the time of Benedict's death in February 1833 Mary and one of the youngest boys also had died. Note also that neither Benedict nor Mary were less than 43 years or more than 53 years old at the time of their deaths. Thus they must have been born during the decade 1780-1790.
Identifications: M 20-26, Ebenezer; M 15-20, George W.; M 10-15, Ira; M 5-10, Chauncey L.; M < 5, Richard and the boy who died; F 20- 26, Anna; F 10-15, Sally; and F 5-10, Jane or perhaps here Sally and Jane should be interchanged. Each of the three other children must have lived less than ten years and died between successive census enumerations. One of these may have been Rose Ellen who died in 1822 at age two years and a few months.
October 11, 1988
